How can non-technical users help further Ubuntu?

[thedogisdead]

I love Ubuntu and I'd like to be able to contribute to it despite the fact that I'm not a developer and not what you'd call an 'expert' Linux user.

I just enjoy the freedom, security and flexibility which Ubuntu brings.

Trouble is, I'm wondering just what non-development types like me can contribute to Ubuntu that isn't just word-of-mouth promotion.

There must be lots of skills out there among the Ubuntu user base that can be harnessed to help improve the OS and its marketing.

I for example, am a qualified journalist, and I now work for a local authority in England preparing and editing content for the internet and advising on best practice for publishing content on the web.

I spend a lot of time on site architectures and making the user experience on various websites as intuitive as possible, while containing easy to understand, quality information.

Would there be any scope in the project to help contribute my skills in any way?

It'd be no problem for me to chip in with copy writing, blurb, descriptions on the software centre, etc.

Where would I start?

Are there not a raft of graphic designers, UI developers, PR people etc out there who would be willing to chip in as well?!

Any suggestions on how myself or anyone else could get involved?

[dvlchd3]

There are several teams that help with Ubuntu. Not all require technical knowledge/experience. Ubuntu also needs volunteers to help brainstorm ideas, provide artwork, do marketing, etc.

I would take a look at the two below links. These are the different teams comprising the Ubuntu community.

All the teams listed with links to their sites:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Teams

LoCo Teams (local community teams)
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeamList

[thedogisdead]

Hey, brilliant! Thanks for this :D

[3rdalbum]

I'm sure you could be invaluable in helping the documentation effort.

[earthpigg]

hang out in "Absolute Beginner Talk" and the other support forums.

no matter how novice you think you are, there are others more novice than you who would benefit from your knowledge and experience.

[stinger30au]

plenty of things you can do to help promote ubuntu

you can spray paint all over your car

UBUNTU ROCKS

and drive it *EVERYWHERE*

:lolflag:

seriously

Ubuntu needs to be promoted... *SOMEHOW*

theres free advertising any where there is news papers of any kind, be it your school news paper, university news paper, local news papers

write them an article and send it to the "letters to the editor" section

tell them how great ubuntu is and mention it is free to download and install and your encouraged to copy it and pass it round to your friends.also mention that it is immune to attacks from virus, trojan, worms, adware, spyware, rootkits, etc and it also comes with an alternative to microsoft office called open office.also mention it has plug and play for most devices on the market today and there is free techincal support if you need it and also payed for support if your interested as well

theres plenty of other things you can mention but this is a start

hope this helps:D

[23meg]

This may give you some ideas:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ContributeToUbuntu

[synicalx]

hang out in "Absolute Beginner Talk" and the other support forums.

no matter how novice you think you are, there are others more novice than you who would benefit from your knowledge and experience.

Actual truth, I'm a fair bit of a noob but I'm still able to lend a hand to even newer users especially in the hardware side of things where I have at least have a couple of years experience.

As for marketing, little things like stickers on your laptop or other subtle suggestions make people around you THINK about Ubuntu/Linux-in-general, and if you actively talk to people you know (co workers, friends, family - anyone who can tolerate a bit of pestering :D) about Ubuntu and offer to burn them LiveCD's so they can try it for themselves. I've managed to convince my girlfriend to convert to a Wubi install about a week ago, so it can work!

[XubuRoxMySox]

hang out in "Absolute Beginner Talk" and the other support forums.

no matter how novice you think you are, there are others more novice than you who would benefit from your knowledge and experience.

I was able to help a few n00bs with really simple issues.... but frankly my own Ubuntu experience has been almost completely trouble free! The result is that I have no big experience fixing stuff, because nothing's broken.

I have messed around with a few distros and customizations just for fun, and learned alot without even meaning to, lol.

I also help by making a 'buntu computer available for public use where I work (heavy internet filtering by the way) and users are always surprised by its up-to-date looks, its speed, and ease because it's such an old machine. Then I tell 'em about 'buntu and share a "try it out at home" disk with them.

I'm a simple boy, not geeky at all. I help in my own little corner of the world by removing the "geek mystique" that is usually associated with Linux.

-Robin

[nothingspecial]

I was able to help a few n00bs with really simple issues.... but frankly my own Ubuntu experience has been almost completely trouble free! The result is that I have no big experience fixing stuff, because nothing's broken.
-Robin

Break it then. That`s what I do. That`s how I learn. Put another *buntu on another partition and break it, then try to fix it. All good fun :D

[XubuRoxMySox]

Break it then. That`s what I do. That`s how I learn. Put another *buntu on another partition and break it, then try to fix it. All good fun :D

I actually have done that a couple of times during my obsessed quest for superduper mega ultra lightweight Ubuntu. Sometimes I learned, and sometimes I just got impatient and reinstalled, lol. But you're right. Messing with it 'til it breaks and learning how to fix it is kinda fun - even for a non-geek! But one needs to have plenty of time to devote to it ("sorry, have to skip dance class again, 'puter's broke") in order to make the most of it. I even made my own special remix (minimal Ubuntu with LXDE and selected apps) which took a week of tweaking to get working and is still kinda buggy, but I'm learning a little as I go trying to perfect it.

By the way, one of my fellow dance students has written a nice article (http://www.linuxforums.org/articles/non-geeky-girls-love-linux-too-_368.html) about helping non-geeky people get into Linux. I think it offers some helpful advice too.

-Robin